BioNTech, German government pressured Twitter to censor "threats" against Big Pharma

By ramontomeydw // 2023-01-18

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The German government alongside BioNTech, Pfizer's partner in the creation of the mRNA Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccine, pressured Twitter to censor supposed "threats." Lee Fang of the Intercept revealed this censorship effort via an email he published as part of the latest tranche of the Twitter Files. The Dec. 13, 2020 email from Nina Morschhaeuser – former Twitter head of public policy, government and philanthropy in Germany – alerted several teams that BioNTech and German authorities got in touch with her. The two entities warned her of an online campaign targeting COVID-19 vaccine companies that would begin the next day, Dec. 14. "The authorities are warning about 'serious consequences' of the action, i.e. posts and a flood of comments 'that may violate [terms of service]' as well as the 'takeover of user accounts' are to be expected. Especially, the personal accounts of the management of the vaccine manufacturers are said to be targeted. Accordingly, fake accounts could also be set up," she wrote in the email. Morschhaeuser asked Twitter teams to monitor special hashtags and accounts that were expected to be used or targeted in the campaign. She added that German authorities had referred to a "permissible" campaign that allowed users to send auto-populated tweets. The campaign BioNTech and German authorities pertained to was the People's Vaccine Day of Action, which called for "Big Pharma to share their [COVID-19] vaccines with the world." It urged people to "join a global day of mass calling, emailing and tweeting" on Dec. 14, 2020. A day before Morschhaeuser sent the Dec. 13, 2020 email to Twitter teams, she had received a query from BioNTech External Communications Director Jasmina Alatovic. The BioNTech executive warned her Twitter counterpart about the campaign and asked for help hiding the Mainz, Germany-based biotechnology firm's account during the campaign. Alatovic asked: "Could you help us hide our BioNTech Twitter account for two days … so that comments are no longer possible?" (Related: Twitter's censorship of Big Pharma critics is a worldwide phenomenon.)

British man fell victim to Twitter's censorship

According to Fang, it remains unclear what actions Twitter took in response to Alatovic's request. He also disclosed that several Twitter employees initially found that the campaign did not violate the social media platform's rules. Nevertheless, the platform continued to monitor tweets associated with the campaign. The Intercept investigative journalist mentioned that the potential "fake accounts" mentioned in her email weren't actually fake, but were real people. Retired bricklayer Terry Brough was among the list. The 74-year-old Briton had his account flagged after calling for Big Pharma to ensure that poor countries do not miss out on a COVID shot. Brough posted a tweet on Dec. 14, 2020 addressed to Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel and AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot. "[Nine out of 10] people in poor countries are going to miss out on a COVID-19 vaccine next year," he pointed out in the tweet. The retired bricklayer then challenged the companies to "ensure that everyone everywhere can be safe." "I'm actually 74 and still living," Brough told Fang during a phone interview, proving that he was far from being fake. "I was a bricklayer all my life, just like my dad." "I'm no Che Guevara – but I've been an activist, a trade unionist and a socialist. And all I did was sign a tweet. I wish I could've done more, really." The collusion of the German government with BioNTech to impose COVID censorship had actually been rooted in money. Berlin helped fund the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by providing $445 million to the German company's vaccine program in 2020. This paid off for Pfizer, which made $37 billion in profits from the COVID-19 shot in 2021. It continued to generate record revenue for the New York-based drug company in 2022. Censorship.news has more stories about Twitter's online censorship. Watch this G News report about Twitter temporarily censoring Florida Surgeon General Dr. Joseph Ladapo over his warning about the COVID-19 vaccines. This video is from the Chinese taking down EVIL CCP channel on Brighteon.com.

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British man fell victim to Twitter's censorship

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